Richmond Stadium Update

[ur2k]

Finally received approval from the City of Richmond last night to proceed with the project. Construction scheduled to begin during the Spring semester with the goal of being ready for the 2010 season.

That should be the last hurdle to clear and they can finally start building this thing.

http://richmondspiders.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/072908aaa.html

[andy7171]

That stadium on your campus is going to be sweet! If it's ready in '10, I'll be there!

[slostang]

Congrats. On campus stadiums add to the game day experience of college football.

[appfan2008]

good luck... should be really nice for you guys to finally have your own nice place... why only 8k seats?

[andy7171]

good luck... should be really nice for you guys to finally have your own nice place... why only 8k seats?

Had to make it same size as the arena because of local complaining. xrolleyesx

[DTSpider]

Yeah, it wouldn't have been approved if bigger.

The size can be increased with temporary seating since that doesn't require the same approval. Apparently seats can also be added at a later date with a limited approval process. It's a real mess dealing with the city.

[bluehenbillk]

Looking forward to coming & experiencing better sightlines than UR's current stadium.

[Monarch History]

Looking forward to playing you guys in 2011 when we start playing a full CAA slate that year.xpeacex

[ur2k]

Had to make it same size as the arena because of local complaining. xrolleyesx

Yup - there are some fairly ritzy neighborhoods surrounding UR and the local concern over gameday traffic, noise, etc. was an obstacle UR had to deal with. I think the easiest way to placate them and get city approval for a special use permit was to build a stadium the same size as our basketball arena (approx 9,000 seats) and make a concession on expanding some roads to get traffic into and out of campus more efficiently. This has been a long ongoing process so getting the final city approval is a huge accomplishment.

As DT said, there may be room for expansion in the future and at the minimum, room for temporary bleachers for bigger games. We'll see although nothing formal along those lines have been annouced yet. We haven't even seen a final design.

[lizrdgizrd]

Congrats on getting the OK! What have you guys been averaging in attendance? Is this new place going to be big enough?

[Grizaholic17]

good luck... should be really nice for you guys to finally have your own nice place... why only 8k seats?

No fun having empty seats. The plan looks like expansion is in their mind. And maybe initial cost. But i really don't know. Just some thoughts.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

The place will have 8,700 seats. I'm sure it will end up being a pretty 'tough ticket' ... hopefully after all the dust settles and we get a few years under our belts, we could see an enhancement.

We typically drew 7-8000 fans at City Stadium. It would be higher when JMU or WM came to town ... other times lower.

Demand will rise now that we're on campus.

[BDKJMU]

I imagine this could hurt UR's future chances of getting awarded a home playoff game as a non seed, as the NCAA states:
"c. When determining host institutions for playoff games when both teams are unseeded, criteria shall apply as follows: (1) quality of facility, (2) revenue potential plus estimated net receipts, (3) attendance history and potential, (4) team’s performance (i.e., conference place finish, head-to-head results and number of Division I opponents), and (5) student-athlete well-being (e.g., travel, missed class time).

UR will have the smallest stadium (official capcacity) by far in the CAA South. The CAA north did have the 4 smallest stadiums in the CAA according to these attendance #s from the CAA stadiums from about 3 yrs ago. UR will drop behind Maine (10,000) but will still be bigger than URI, 7500, Northeastern, 7,000, and UNH 6500.

[DTSpider]

This definitely hurts UR's playoff home game chances IMO. It's too bad that it has to be this way, but it had to be done. What's also not mentioned is that the City of Richmond was rumored to be getting ready to "force" UR to buy the current facility, and then upgrade it to pass city inspectors. Total cost on that project was estimated around $15 million.

UR was in a no-win situation. I'm pretty pleased to be heading on-campus. i wish it would be bigger, but you can't always get what you want.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

I see your point regarding the playoffs. That said, we hosted a playoff game this year at City Stadium against Eastern Kentucky and an attendance of 3,200 was reported.

There are numerous schools that we can still 'outbid' with a capacity of 8700. Also remember that UR has deep pockets.

All things being equal, we'll never host Montana, UD, JMU, App State and others in the playoffs. We wouldn't have hosted them at City Stadium.

Hopefully we can earn a seed one of these years and not have to worry about it!

[andy7171]

Yup - there are some fairly ritzy neighborhoods surrounding UR and the local concern over gameday traffic, noise, etc. was an obstacle UR had to deal with. I think the easiest way to placate them and get city approval for a special use permit was to build a stadium the same size as our basketball arena (approx 9,000 seats) and make a concession on expanding some roads to get traffic into and out of campus more efficiently. This has been a long ongoing process so getting the final city approval is a huge accomplishment.

As DT said, there may be room for expansion in the future and at the minimum, room for temporary bleachers for bigger games. We'll see although nothing formal along those lines have been annouced yet. We haven't even seen a final design.

Towson had the same surrounding neighborhood issues before building Unitas Stadium. xnonono2x

8700 with temporary bleachers in the endzone(s) could get the number up to 10,000.

And remember a packed 8700 looks better than a third full 21,000!